Sea Pen Aeration & Oxygenation

Harmful algal blooms, low dissolved oxygen events and parasite infestations can wreak havoc on net-pen operations. In fact, year after year, millions of dollars are lost to these events. Working closely with industry leaders over the last 3 years, Pentair has developed a pair of solutions that provide commercial aquaculture farmers a way to mitigate the impact of these events and the support to manage the ever changing conditions faced by sea pen operations.

The primary goal of the Pentair SPA (Sea Pen Aeration) and SPO (Sea Pen Oxygenation) system is to balance the flow of air or oxygen at each site so that distribution is even throughout the sea pen. A unique pod-based approach provides delivery systems that can be customized to the specific requirements of each site. Each pod can be placed strategically throughout the pen at specific depths to compensate for conditions. Once balance has been achieved, site specific flow adjustments can be made. The even distribution assists mitigation efforts through the promotion of increased water movement and oxygen dissolution. The even flow distribution of air or oxygen to each of these injection sites is accomplished using back pressure compensated flowmeters.
The maintenance and control of oxygen saturation supports healthy fish stocks and increase in yield potential. Manage dosing regiments by tracking critical water quality parameters using the Point Four line of monitoring and control equipment. That includes a cloud-based offering for remote monitoring and data trend analysis.

The Pentair Aquatic Eco-Systems Sea Pen Aeration System is a fully balanced air flow system that evenly distributes compressed air across all net pens at an aquaculture production site to promote greater water upwelling and movement. This mitigates plankton blooms by moving low density algae/plankton water from below to help dilute the algae/plankton density in the water inhabited by the fish within the pens to a reduced level.

The Pentair Aquatic Eco-Systems Sea Pen Oxygenation System is a flexible and robust dissolved oxygen management platform. A unique pod-based approach allows the flow of compressed oxygen to be controlled and balanced throughout each sea pen site. Each pod can be strategically placed throughout the pen at specific depths to compensate for conditions and optimize dissolution. The system can accommodate any number of sea pens at any one site with no limit on flowmeter panels or diffuser assemblies. The main reason for the oxygenation system on a sea pen site is to increase the dissolved oxygen (D.O.) content the fish will encounter. The side benefits of increased D.O., are shortened harvesting cycles, improved feed conversion rates, or continuous feeding during low D.O. events. The peace of mind, knowing a remote sea pen site can deal with an emergency oxygen situation, is also beneficial. Each platform will still receive the same flow of oxygen, regardless of the movements of the other platforms.